Historical figure Yoakim Gruev

Yoakim Gruev Proychev was a prominent Bulgarian educator, born in Koprivshtitsa on 9 September 1828. His father, the merchant Gruyo Proychev, was the son of Father Chernev, and his mother was Tana Topalova. He had a sister, Tana Karavelova, and four brothers: Georgi, Hariton (Veselin), Aleksandar and Nikita Gruev.

His father encouraged him to read at home and provided instruction in basic subjects. In winter 1836, he began studying at S. Velev's school, moving to the teacher Ivan, a shoemaker, that summer. The following year, he attended Zahariy Ikonomovich Krusha's school, which used the monitorial method. A new school opened in Koprivshtitsa in 1837, where he continued under Neofit Rilski.

Over the following twenty years, Gruev taught in Koprivshtitsa and at Plovdiv's Bulgarian graded school, gaining a reputation as an outstanding teacher. His subjects included Bulgarian and Russian grammar, arithmetic, Greek and Turkish. His pupils included Todor Kableshkov, Ivan Vazov and Konstantin Stoilov.

He was also active in public life, serving as assistant to Plovdiv's Ottoman governor, chair of its municipal council and later Ottoman commissioner in Haskovo. After the Bulgarian Exarchate was established, he joined its Plovdiv council.

After the Liberation, he remained active in education and public affairs as Director of Education in Eastern Rumelia and a member-councillor of the Supreme Administrative Court. He joined the Bulgarian Literary Society in 1884.

He died in Plovdiv on 1 August 1912 and was buried in the churchyard of the Holy Mother of God in the Old Town. He is remembered as an educator, teacher, translator, publisher and public figure whose work profoundly influenced Bulgarian education and culture.